Chelsea won their first Premier League title within two years of Abramovich buying the club from Ken Bates in 2003, and he has won every trophy available apart from the Champions League.

Lampard told the Sun: "Everything I've achieved in the last 10 years has only been possible because of the owner's investment.

"I never envisaged that we would be winning league titles, competing in the Champions League and fighting on all fronts year after year so quickly. Everything changed when Mr Abramovich arrived in 2003. He has made a huge investment and we are all very thankful.

"I'd be very proud to win the Champions League for a lot of reasons but I definitely understand the thought process that we owe it to him to win it.

"He never sits us down and says 'You must win the Champions League, this is the main thing'. But we all know it would be a fantastic thing to him.

"And he deserves it for all that he has given to the club.''

Meanwhile, Michael Essien is the latest player to back Fernando Torres to overcome his goal drought.

Essien told the Daily Express: "Didier and Torres are different kinds of strikers. Didier is big and Torres is not so big, so when Torres plays, we have to change and adapt to his style of play.

"But we've worked on it for the last two months and now we know him really well. We're going to start feeding him and he'll get his goals back.

"He's been working very hard and has everyone's support. We know he's going to deliver. And when he starts scoring, all the noise about him will stop. It's just a matter of time."